Dear Alphabettes: webfont versus web font

As you pointed out to me recently, there’s a certain logic to web font:

Logically it should probably be web font, just like it is web developer. Besides, desktopfont would be unacceptable, so why isn’t webfont?

Fair, but maybe things like syllable count and simplicity come into play here. After all, common usage has closed up words like email, website, and ebook.

Chicago recommends minimal hyphenation, except in cases where confusion seems likely. Webfont presents no confusion. For A Book Apart, I’m currently editing a brief on, uh, webfonts; ABA’s house style guide recommends “web fonts,” but I’m lobbying hard for a change! The arc of usage bends toward simplicity. And anecdotally, people seem to prefer webfont. So anyway, yeah. I vote for webfonts. Besides, “I don’t think it will be long before people start calling what we call ‘webfonts’ fonts.” 1